Doctor Who: Remember the Maine
by OptimusPhillip
Summary: After a series of exhausting adventures, the Doctor agrees to take Clara on a vacation to Hawaii. However, they instead find themselves on Cuba during their War of Independence, where they discover the answer to one of the biggest mysteries of the Spanish-American War: what, or who, sank the U.S.S. Maine?
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: This is not intended as a theory for any future episodes, rather just something that'd be cool to see in a Doctor Who episode._

"Well," said the Doctor as he reentered the TARDIS, "that was a great adventure, don't you think, Clara?"

"It kind of was," said Clara, "though I do wish we could've avoided the risk of getting exterminated."

"There's a time and place for everything, Clara, and this is neither the time nor place for complaining."

"Yes, Doctor. Where to next?"

"Well, seeing as how you don't care for getting shot at all the time, how about someplace peaceful, like Hawaii?"

"That sounds great."

"Well let's go." The Doctor goes to work flying the TARDIS to Hawaii.

(roll intro)


	2. Chapter 2

The TARDIS materializes on an island off the coast of North America. However, it could be told from the scenery that this was not Hawaii. Clara noticed this, too, for when she exited the TARDIS, she walked back in.

"Um... Doctor?" she said.

"Yes, Clara?" said the Doctor.

"Are you sure we're in Hawaii?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Come see for yourself." They exited the TARDIS and, sure enough, the landscape showed that it was not the peaceful island state they were looking for.

"Doctor," said Clara, "where are we and when?"

"Let's see…" The Doctor pulled out a pocket watch and looked at it, "It's 9:00, February 15, 1898."

"That's the when, now what's the where?"

"I'll go inside the TARDIS to find out." The Doctor ran back into the TARDIS and came out less than a minute later, "Clara, I'm sorry, but there's a time and place for everything, and this is neither the time nor place for a vacation."

"What do you mean?"

"We're in Cuba. And you know what's going on on February 15, 1898?"

"What?"

"The Cuban War of Independence."


	3. Chapter 3

"So let me get this straight." said Clara, "You said you would take me to Hawaii to take a vacation from adventure, and the TARDIS lands in Cuba during a revolution?"

"Yes." said the Doctor, "Did I happen to mention that the TARDIS hasn't always taken me where I wanted to go?"

"No. You never did."

"Well, apparently the TARDIS thought there was a reason for me to be here, and I might just know what." The Doctor ran to a nearby bay, and Clara followed. There they saw a massive naval vessel approaching the harbor.

"Where are we?" she said.

"Havana Harbor." said the Doctor, "And that ship there, that's the U.S.S. Maine."

"Why are we here?" The Doctor looked at his watch again.

"You'll see in three… two… one…" Suddenly there was an explosion. The forward third of the ship was completely obliterated and not long after the rest of the ship sank.

"What just happened?" said Clara.

"The U.S.S. Maine just sank, killing 260 men." said the Doctor, "And once word reaches the states, they'll blame the Spanish. The Spanish-American War will start in just a couple months over this, and President McKinley will win Puerto Rico, Hawaii, the Philippines, and temporarily Cuba. Now come with me."

"Where are we going?"

"Back to the TARDIS, to see what sank the ship."

"But you said the Spanish did it."

"No. I said that the Americans will blame Spain. I never said they did it." The Doctor and Clara entered the TARDIS.

"Well, who did it?" said Clara.

"That's what we're about to find out, by going straight to the center."


	4. Chapter 4

The TARDIS materialized again, this time within the coal bunker of the _Maine_. The Doctor stepped out and looked around.

"If I may ask, Doctor," said Clara as she exited the TARDIS, "what are you doing?"

"Searching for explosives of alien origin." said the Doctor.

"Why?"

"Think about it, Clara. Why would the TARDIS have brought us here instead of Hawaii if there wasn't a reason for me to intervene?" The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and scanned the room with it. He looked at the ring around the screwdriver's tip, where a Gallifreyan symbol had appeared.

"Nothing?" said the Doctor, "How can there be nothing?"

"Maybe it's a wooden explosive." Clara joked. The Doctor glared at her, "Sorry."

"I can't seem to find any sort of explosive whatsoever! Maybe it was just an accidental ignition and the TARDIS just thought there was something else at work. We better go before the ship blows up." They ran back into the TARDIS. However, the controls were locked: the Doctor couldn't get it going.

"Come on! There's nothing out of the ordinary here, why do we have to stay here?" Clara looked out the window.  
"Um, Doctor." said Clara, "You might want to see this." The Doctor looked out as well and saw, to his horror, another creature teleport aboard the _Maine_. It was reptilian and humanoid at the same time. It had a flare in its hand and wore some sort of fireproof suit.

"What is that?" said Clara.

"It's a Silurian," said the Doctor, "and it's about to sink the ship."


	5. Chapter 5

"So an alien is planning to blow up the ship?" said Clara as she stared at the Silurian saboteur through the TARDIS window.

"Yes." said the Doctor.

"Shouldn't we stop it?"

"No."

"What do you mean no? We can stop it, right?"

"Technically, yes."

"Then shouldn't we?"

"No. The destruction of the _U.S.S. Maine_ is a fixed point in time. If you try to change it, you destroy the universe."  
"Then why did the TARDIS bring us here if there's no way to stop it?"

"The answer to that is simple."

"What is it?"  
"I have no idea."

"What do you mean?"

"I have no idea. But I'm about to find out."

"What do you mean?" The Doctor didn't answer Clara. Instead he ran out the door and said to the Silurian—

"Hello, Silurian. What are you doing here?"

"Finally putting a stop to this ape revolution." said the lizard-man.

"Since when do you care about the Cuban Revolution?"

"Not that revolution, the revolution of apes over us."

"But why one ship? Why would you try to end the human race's reign over Earth by destroying one ship?"

"Not just one ship. The entirety of Havana Harbor is laced with explosives that will wipe all life off of this puny little island."

"You are a clever one, but it won't work. The ship will blow up, yes, but it won't destroy Cuba. It blows up before it reaches port, meaning you light that flare too early."

"Of course a time traveler like yourself would think that, Doctor. However, what you always fail to see is that time can be rewritten."  
"Not this time. This event must progress exactly as it always has. It is a fixed point in time."

"We'll see about that, Doctor." Suddenly Clara poked her head out the TARDIS door and said—

"Doctor, the ship's about to dock."

"You're too late, Doctor." said the Silurian, "In exactly five minutes, at 9:45, this flare will automatically ignite and destroy the ship, and there's no way you can stop me!" The Silurian dropped the flare and teleported out.


	6. Chapter 6

"We don't have much time." said the Doctor and he rummaged through the coal for the flare, "I need to find the flare and disarm it before the ship reaches port."

"But that would still change a fixed point in history, wouldn't it?" Clara said. The Doctor then started considering what he was doing.

"You're right. I'll just shave some time off the timer, once I find it." He went back to rummaging through the coal when Clara noticed the flare had rolled behind a separate coal pile.

"Doctor," she said as she walked over to pick it up, "I found it."

"Excellent, Clara, Bring it here." Clara brought it to the Doctor, who pointed his sonic screwdriver at it and pressed the button.

"There." said the Doctor, "Now we need to get into the TARDIS in the next minute."

"A minute?" said Clara, "That's all you gave us?"

"That's how long until history dictates it needs to happen, so yes. Now into the TARDIS." The duo raced back into the blue police box, which then started dematerializing, going EERrwWwoooooSHHHhEERrwWwoooooSHHHhEERrwWwoooooSHHHh as it went. Once the wheezing and groaning was done, the flare ignited, destroying the ship before it reached port.


	7. Chapter 7

The TARDIS materialized back at the port as the remains of the _Maine_ sank into Havana Harbor.

"It's amazing." said the Doctor, "The sinking of the U.S.S. Maine was a tragedy, but it led to one of the biggest changes in human ideologies."

"Really?" said Clara.

"Yes. This war helped the United States started seeing themselves as a righteous power for the protection of righteousness across the world, and later the universe."

"What?"

"When humanity begins to spread their empire across the universe, the U.S.A. was leading the way, of course until nationalism on Earth ended and it was just humanity."

"Thanks for the history lesson, Doctor."

"There's a time and place for everything, Clara, and this is definitely the time and place for a history lesson."

"Okay."

"Now, how about I take you on that vacation I promised you?"

"I'd love that." With that, Clara and the Doctor reentered the TARDIS, and with a few wheezy groans, the strange blue box was gone.

**THE END**


End file.
